Kentucky Officials Award More Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licenses By Lottery

“Our hope is that, certainly, there will be additional conditions added later in the future, whereby other Kentuckians will have access to treat chronic or difficult conditions.”

By Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern

Kentucky awarded 12 additional medical cannabis dispensary licenses through a final drawing held Monday at the Kentucky Lottery Corporation in Louisville.

Sam Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis, said there were 4,075 applications for dispensary licenses.

In late November, the state awarded its first 36 medical cannabis dispensary licenses. Previous lottery winners were cultivators and processors.

While this is the final drawing for the program, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said that could change in the future.

“Our hope is that, certainly, there will be additional conditions added later in the future, whereby other Kentuckians will have access to treat chronic or difficult conditions,” he said. “If that’s the case and/or we see more people qualifying than the initial projection suggested, that will give us an opportunity to expand this medical cannabis program.”

The latest dispensary winners:

The latest dispensary winners and their locations:

1. Canntucky Ventures LLC — Frankfort, Franklin County
2. Garry Kort — Richmond, Madison County
3. Robert Hoogendyk — Richmond, Madison County
4. Thriveblue LLC — Georgetown, Scott County
5. DHK KY LLC — Lexington, Fayette County
6. ZenLeaf, Inc. — Lexington, Fayette County
7. DNP-DH KY, LLC — Shepherdsville, Bullitt County
8. KY PRISTINE VISTAS LLC — Shepherdsville, Bullitt County
9. DJS KY LLC — Shelbyville, Shelby County
10. Pinnacle Path LLC — Shepherdsville, Bullitt County
11. Chung Woo Kim, LLC — Louisville, Jefferson County
12. Upward Innovations — Louisville, Jefferson County

As with past drawings, winners will have to pay a licensing fee within 15 days or forfeit their license. Winners will receive emails with instructions on the process.

Background and timeline

In 2023, the legislature legalized medical marijuana for Kentuckians suffering from chronic illnesses.

Then, the bipartisan House Bill 829 that became law during this year’s legislative session moved up the medical cannabis licensing timeline from January 2025 to July 1, 2024.

During the application period, which was July 1–August 31, the state received 4,998 applications for medical cannabis business licenses, including 918 cultivator and processor applications.

Patients who qualify for medical cannabis are those with a history of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer or other approved medical conditions.

Starting December 1, the Office of Medical Cannabis launched a directory so qualifying patients can search for a provider near them who can write a certification for medical marijuana.

“It’s important to note that physicians and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) do not issue medical cannabis cards,” Flynn said. “Rather, they write certifications into our electronic monitoring system so when a patient applies for a card—which allows purchase of medical cannabis—their written certification will populate and the patient can click on it to associate the certification with his or her card application.”

So far, Flynn said, there are 230 registered practitioners in the state directory.

This story was first published by Kentucky Lantern.

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